Wednesday, September 18, 2013

(This is part 2 of the BatRep. If you haven't read part 1, click here).

So the battle begins. The Orx advance as a relentless wave of claws and fangs, ready to chop everything standing between them and their invaluable prize: One of the Seven Councillors!

The Corporation forces tactics rely on concentrating fire on anything that comes near the front entrance of the military compound, thus creating a no-man's land there. The Orx units advancing in the middle sustain severe damage, while their outflanking comrades manage to keep a good pace, swallowing bullets all the way to the compound's main door.

On the Corporation's right flank, an Enforcer Supression team stands at the top of an industrial tower, trying to hold the advance of the green tides, but proves to be no match for the overwhelming numbers of the barbaric enemy, and is completely wiped out at last.

The marine sections on the compound's roof are devastated by marauder machine guns and artillery shells. A lucky shot from a cannon on the bottom of the batlefield lands directly over the Enforcer Captain, killing him on the spot. There is now a single marine trooper still standing, and he keeps fighting to the bitter end, never retreating!

A unit of Fraggers reach the surroundings of the compound, smashing an APC Warrior on the way, and then a Firestorm. At this point, there is little Corporation fire power left with enough strength to stop the Fraggers armored battlesuits, and so they keep advacing and reach the door by the end of turn 5.

Prior to the Fraggers' assault on the facility, a unit of grunts manage to destroy the door and invade the place. The Enforcer strike section holds their ground, and repel the marauders.

All Corporation armour still standing manouvers to help fight the orx trying to invade the base, and all grunts nearby are killed shortly after. Still, other units close in on the structure, and everything seems lost when the Fraggers reach the door and engage the remaining Enforcers inside.

The Enforcers hold the line at the threshold, so to reduce the area of contact with the orx masses pushing in. The fight is fierce and bloody, and in the end, only one enforcer holding a burst laser and his Sergeant are still alive.

It is the end of game turn 6 and Corporation reinforcements enter orbit. The Marauders are out of time and begin an all out retreat. Before turning back, the leader of the remaining Fraggers exchange a last glance with the two surviving warriors of the Corporation.

In the end, two superhuman warriors, fearless and resolute, were all that stood between the Orx and their spoil.

The Concillor is informed that the enemy is under retreat. His life is safe. It is unlikely he will venture through such remote territories ever again, though.

All in all, it was a fun game and I believe my opponent feels the same. We used some home rules here: a vehicle damage chart and custom supression rules.

I don't like the absence of a damage chart for vehicles on Warpath. Just losing tough points until death is not fun when it comes to vehicles, in my opinion, so I came up with the following damage chart you roll on every time a vehicle suffers 1 point of damage:

D6 roll - Result

1 or 2 - no additional effect

3 - forfeits next activation opportunity

4 - loses 1 weapon, ramdomly determined

5 - immobilised

6 - instant destruction

The Nerve rules are currently the broken piece in Warpath, most people agree. I used the following home rule: Everytime a unit is targeted by a number of shots equal to or greater than its Nerve Value for supression, it has to test for it.

Both rules worked nicely, and I'm now willing to try out some home rules to fix melee, which is another aspect that I have issues with.

There are a number of minor aspects of the rules that I believe need an overhaul, but the system is good, plays smoothly and keeps both players involved in the action throughout the game (RIP I-go-you-go's...).

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Last saturday we had a game of Warpath on our gaming club. I controlled a force of Corporation marines and Enforcers and my buddy, Adriano, fielded the Orx.

It was his first game of Warpath, and since he hasn't got any Mantic Orx yet, he used his Orks from 40k instead (and even some Skaven we had lying around).

I chosed to play a custom Scenario, since such games are always so much fun. The Scenario was the following:

An arid planet on the outskirts of Co-Prosperity Sphere - Aridanna III - is being prepared for colonizing. One of the Members of the Council of Seven is currently on visit to that orb to assess the estate of the instalations being deployed there. A detachment of Marines and Enforcers, lead by an Enforcer Captain, is in charge of his security.

The news about such illustrious visit reaches a clan of Marauders on a nearby system, and they decide to plan a hit and run attack against that planet with the objective of kidnapping the Councillor. How much wouldn't Corporation Cetral be willing to pay to rescue one of the Seven, after all?

The table set up

The Scenario Rules:

- Deployment is along the short table edges.

- The Corporation forces deploy on the side where the Military Compound is. The Councillor remains inside the building, protected by a unit of Enforcers. The Orx deploy on the opposite side of the table.

- The Concillor is a Hero with the following stat line:

Speed 5

To-hit 5+

Attacks 1

Defence 3+

Nerve 8/10

Tough 2

- The Councillor may be captured if the unit he is in is destroyed and an enemy model gets to at least 2" from him. From this point on, the Concillor is controlled by the Orx (he moves as the Orx's player determines, but cannot make attacks).

- If the unit the Councillor is in is shot at, any spare wounds after his unit is destroyed are allocated on him. In melee, spare wounds are only allocatted on him if the opposite player so wishes.

- The only way to invade the compound is through the doors (2, on at the front and the other at one side) or the top hatch. Each is treated as a Defence 9+ structure. Any hit that reaches that defence stat destroys that access and allows free passage there from then on.

- The Corporation Forces, which begin the game already in control of the Concillor, deploy 2000 points. The Orx deploy 2200, instead, so to compensate for this tactical disadvantage.

- Whoever controls the Concillor by the end of the game is the winner. The end of the game represents the arrival of Corporation reinforcements in orbit, thus forcing the Orx to retreat immediatelly.

A Corporation industrial facility

The military compound.

The inside of the compound. I used multiple kits from Antenociti's Workshop Scenery line to decorate it, as well as a handfull of 40k bits.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

My first painted Veer-myn are a Night Spawn and a Tunneller. The Night Spawn is a HQ that comes with the Veer-myn army set I purchased. A total of 41 miniatures for US$60.00. Can't beat that! (well, technically you can, Mantic has an army set for the Marauders with 50 miniatures and 2 vehicles for the same price tag!!)

The tunneller is from Ramshackle Games, since Mantic does not yet offer models for most vehicles in the game.

The rest of the Veer-myn army is currently being painted, and I expect to have them finished in a couple weeks. I plan to also have a Corporation army painted before I receive my Deadzone stuff in november, so I have to keep a good pace with the ratmen here.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Here are my first vehicles for my Corporation army, of Warpath. The two in the sides are from Bitspudlo. Great resin models. Well cast and easy to assemble. The other two are from Khurasan Miniatures, and are even better castings.

All have been properly magnetized to provide weapon interchangeability.

I used a 28mm infantry (an Eisenkern) to give a sense of scale of these models on the pics below:

This guy here is going to be my APC-13 'Warrior':

This one is going to be the SPA-7 'Pounder':

These two here I'm not sure what to do yet. They can be used as FLT-8 'Firestorm's, but I'd need to find proper weapons for them (flamers). They should fit the role well, aesthectically speaking, since the firestorm's are probably supposed to be small, agile vehicles.

I could also just use them in scenario games and find some other model to go as Firestorms. I just couldn't resist buying them, way too much awesomeness to be resisted.